Meet the Beats

Product Notes

The Story of The Beat Vibes.... Two friends (Mark and Brian) are huge fans of The Beatles and each love their own guitars very much. Mark was partial to Gretsch guitars (especially his 1969 model 6120) and Brian to Rickenbackers (1993 model 330/6). While both guitars are elite quality instruments, neither one was willing to admit that other had an equally fine choice of guitar. This rivalry lead to many discussions on how the earliest Beatle recordings were defined by the contrast of these two different sounding guitars, and how they had lost some of their "punch" when the Beatles switched to 2 Rickenbackers, or especially the two Epiphone Casinos. Their appreciation of how important the unique sound of the Hofner bass was to the early Beatle recordings wouldn't come until later at the first Beat Vibes recording session. One day Brian wrote most of a Beatle-ish sounding song (You Only Look Me Up). Having the idea that if John Lennon had written the part he had, it would have been very likely that Paul McCartney would have contributed a bridge. So he gave the partial song to Mark to write what ever occurred to him for a bridge and that when he was done, the two of them should record it using their "special" guitars. The idea was to make it sound as Beatle-ish as possible. So Mark wrote a bridge (later sung by Joe) and the song was complete. After a little thought on how to proceed, Brian called up friend Joe whom he had played in a duet with about 15 years earlier. Joe, having been a former Paul in Beatlemania, was asked to bring his 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass and join the recording session (He agreed). Drummer Scott, a child hood friend of Brian's, as well as another life long Beatle fan, was tapped for percussion duties. Scott was limited to a 4 piece Ludwig drum set with one ride and one crash cymble. It should be noted that as children in their early teens, Brian and Scott literally started learning how to play their instruments on the same day, listening to Beatle records together. They honed their crafts side by side listening to the same songs. Mark, Joe, and Scott (all three strangers to each other) came together on the big day to record what was to be just one song. After take 3 everyone got it right and the session was over. It took about 20 minutes! A little over dubbing of lead and back ground vocals and a guitar solo, then the song was complete. With one song being so much fun, every agreed to do it again, but this time Joe, Mark, and Brian each brought their own song to the session. Following the formula from the first session, 3 more songs were recorded, which naturally lead to the realization that they would have to continue on until an entire 12 track CD was complete. While every member of The Beat Vibes is already involved in their own individual music groups, their love of all things Beatles lead them to record Meet The Beats. If the world likes the concept of "near" Beatles recordings, then a follow up album is not out of the question. So enjoy what could have been had the Fab Four had managed to record one more album in 1963 - 1964!!!!

Details

Credits

The Story of The Beat Vibes.... Two friends (Mark and Brian) are huge fans of The Beatles and each love their own guitars very much. Mark was partial to Gretsch guitars (especially his 1969 model 6120) and Brian to Rickenbackers (1993 model 330/6). While both guitars are elite quality instruments, neither one was willing to admit that other had an equally fine choice of guitar. This rivalry lead to many discussions on how the earliest Beatle recordings were defined by the contrast of these two different sounding guitars, and how they had lost some of their "punch" when the Beatles switched to 2 Rickenbackers, or especially the two Epiphone Casinos. Their appreciation of how important the unique sound of the Hofner bass was to the early Beatle recordings wouldn't come until later at the first Beat Vibes recording session. One day Brian wrote most of a Beatle-ish sounding song (You Only Look Me Up). Having the idea that if John Lennon had written the part he had, it would have been very likely that Paul McCartney would have contributed a bridge. So he gave the partial song to Mark to write what ever occurred to him for a bridge and that when he was done, the two of them should record it using their "special" guitars. The idea was to make it sound as Beatle-ish as possible. So Mark wrote a bridge (later sung by Joe) and the song was complete. After a little thought on how to proceed, Brian called up friend Joe whom he had played in a duet with about 15 years earlier. Joe, having been a former Paul in Beatlemania, was asked to bring his 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass and join the recording session (He agreed). Drummer Scott, a child hood friend of Brian's, as well as another life long Beatle fan, was tapped for percussion duties. Scott was limited to a 4 piece Ludwig drum set with one ride and one crash cymble. It should be noted that as children in their early teens, Brian and Scott literally started learning how to play their instruments on the same day, listening to Beatle records together. They honed their crafts side by side listening to the same songs. Mark, Joe, and Scott (all three strangers to each other) came together on the big day to record what was to be just one song. After take 3 everyone got it right and the session was over. It took about 20 minutes! A little over dubbing of lead and back ground vocals and a guitar solo, then the song was complete. With one song being so much fun, every agreed to do it again, but this time Joe, Mark, and Brian each brought their own song to the session. Following the formula from the first session, 3 more songs were recorded, which naturally lead to the realization that they would have to continue on until an entire 12 track CD was complete. While every member of The Beat Vibes is already involved in their own individual music groups, their love of all things Beatles lead them to record Meet The Beats. If the world likes the concept of "near" Beatles recordings, then a follow up album is not out of the question. So enjoy what could have been had the Fab Four had managed to record one more album in 1963 - 1964!!!!